Apple’s new green manifesto: Renewable energy is ready to become mainstream

With the launch of Apple’s new environmental initiative, the world is once again buzzing with comments, critique and speculation on what the world’s biggest brand is doing. Apple’s bold move is an impetus for the private sector to move in the same direction. Renewable energy is ready to become mainstream, and those companies that fail to pick up on the trend will lose their competitive edge.

From the full-page ad in newspapers around the world, to the homepage placement of a powerful video narrated by Tim Cook himself, Apple is launching its first major manifesto in years, making the very public declaration that “environment” is a significant new string to the brand’s bow.

Apple has always had a razor-sharp eye for what people want, and has been a driving force of pop culture over the past several decades. Its decision to link its brand, along with its bedrock ideals of innovation and creativity, to the environment speaks volumes about what it thinks is important to its customers. If Apple perceives that people want it to incorporate robust environmental principles in its business models, than one thing is clear: industry laggards will not only continue to contribute to climate change and environmental degradation, but their brands, and ultimately their businesses, will decline as well.

Apple not only recognizes unequivocally that climate change is a real problem, but also that companies like it can help be a part of the solution by powering their operations with modern, renewable forms of energy. The company originally built its brand by appealing to “influencers” and “taste-makers” who identified with Apple’s core values and admired their design. With the iPhone, Apple reached a wider audience than ever, and its new commitment to do better for the planet sends a clear message that this is what consumers aspire to.

Far from hiding its environmental goals in the back of an investor report, Apple’s very public Earth Day announcement has already reached millions of people worldwide. Apple is now selling environmentalism to the mass market, underpinned by strong commitments to renewable energy, toxic-free production and recycling. Many companies practice greenwashing, making glitzy green ads about token projects, while doing little to clean up the environmental footprint of their core business. Apple has put its money where its mouth is: Greenpeace’s report, “Clicking Clean,” found that the company’s embrace of renewable energy is genuine, and is leading the technology sector. Apple is still far from perfect –it has issues that it must address throughout its supply chains for materials, energy, and labor, including in China – but by being so open about its sustainability goals, Apple is indicating a willingness to be held accountable for its impact.

Apple has historically been tight-lipped about its environmental record. In making its new commitments so publicly, the company enters a new relationship with its consumers and stakeholders, indicating a willingness to be held accountable for its impact on the planet. While only time will tell how far Apple is willing to go to do “better”, the company’s challenge to itself also throws down the gauntlet to others.

The key to Apple’s success as a brand has long been its uncanny ability not just to predict the future, but to invent it and make it available here and now. iPod allowed us to carry our entire music collection with us for the first time. iPhone made the internet truly portable. Just as Apple’s white headphones went from unusual, to ubiquitous, to copied by everyone else, Apple is doing the same for both renewable energy and the broader idea that major companies are responsible for “leaving the world better than we found it,” as Cook says in the company’s new video.

Apple is proving that a healthier planet, one powered entirely by renewable energy just like its own data centers, is no vision from a crystal ball: it’s here, it works, and it’s what the real innovators are embracing. As usual with Apple, others will surely follow. It is my hope that they will do so sooner, rather than later, for their brand’s sake, but also for our future on this planet.

...don't know, but at the moment I am wondering myself where is the difference between cutting down trees for solar-panels and cutting down trees ...

...don't know, but at the moment I am wondering myself where is the difference between cutting down trees for solar-panels and cutting down trees for palm-oil!

Both are renewable energy... even pictures of palm-oil plantations and solar parks look similar...help me out!!!

Is this what some people call political correctness?

Shame on Indonesia vs. brave WESTERN Apple?

Sun Wu (from Africa)

PS: give up Kumi, you are done...see you in Rotterdam, the Mikhail Ulyanov is currently delivering plenty of Kerosene for you to fly to South Africa one more time...I am sure you haven't seen your daughter for a while!

Mmmm; looks like scrub land in the photo, but it’s hard to tell… Ya, maybe a few trees, 3, 4 meters or so tall. Surely it is someones habitat…
...

Mmmm; looks like scrub land in the photo, but it’s hard to tell… Ya, maybe a few trees, 3, 4 meters or so tall. Surely it is someones habitat…

What I would argue with is the renewability of photovoltaics (A.K.A. “solar”). Even if the Marketeers and Industries claims of 5 or 10 times the energy return on energy invested is true, is that 10 or 20% of the return reinvested in making the p.v. installations replacements?

The installations don’t last forever, don’t you know, and currently a lot of fossil fuels are invested in them.

Ya, I agree with Kumi; it’s to be seen how far Apple will go. I’m sure I’m not the only one with eyes and ears open.

Thank you Kumi for this. Even as a Windows user, I too am very grateful for Apple, being and setting a powerful example for others to follow. And I ...

Thank you Kumi for this. Even as a Windows user, I too am very grateful for Apple, being and setting a powerful example for others to follow. And I think there is a great deal of difference in cutting trees for palm oil and for solar panels. Obviously the greedy palm oil investors want fertile soil, ...like in rainforests and other pristine places. While on the other hand placement of solar panels can be most effective in arid areas, where there are no trees, ...and really should be on top of every person's home. That way no trees will have to be cut.
And gee, ...how would I know Sun Wu would have something ugly to say as soon as Kumi allows comments on his blogs. Jump on it Huh? Honestly, I don't know why they put up with you Sun Wu. Well, I hope Kumi has a visit with his daughter soon, ...some time for his family after sacrificing all his time and his life for a better world. You know what Sun Wu, you want to be the iron fist ruler of Greenpeace, but in my humble opinion, you're not 1% the man Kumi is. Think about it, ...a man who has earned the respect of millions of people, ...and you. Where are your legions that believe in you?
Good luck my Greenpeace friends with the Rainbow Warrior intercepting the tanker, and thank you for rising to the challenge. I know you always are, but please be careful, ...these are volatile times.

Thank you Apple for at least trying. Please don't let it be another case of "Greenwashing"! By the way, the photo of the fields of sol...

Thank you Apple for at least trying. Please don't let it be another case of "Greenwashing"! By the way, the photo of the fields of solar panels; that wouldn't be prime agricultural land lost to food production I hope. The rich soils of Silicon Valley were once a sea of fruit orchards. Regards Ed (New Zealand)

Really? How much Apple is paying Greenpeace for this article? Not long time ago Apple was the company using more toxic elements in their phones.

Really? How much Apple is paying Greenpeace for this article? Not long time ago Apple was the company using more toxic elements in their phones.

Apple doesn't seem very green when its accused in many countries to use batteries that stop working in 2 years and make the phone useless, forcing the customer to buy a new one. Wasteful. German court made Apple use different batteries in the phones sold in their country.

Google do a lot in renewable energy and I don't see (and don't see the need) for a article in Greenpeace blog about it.

And there is no need to exaggerate in the complements towards Apple. Or they use renewable energy, but "leaving the world better than we found it"? Apple doesn't seem to be doing that when they keep insisting on making business with Foxcon when employees kill them self and the ones that doesn't work 16 hours a day. Apple is also the first company that is bringing the horrors of Chinese slavery to other countries. Apple brought Foxcon to Brazil.

"p.s. who plans to intercept a tanker?"
http://news.yahoo.com/video/greenpeace-sends-rainbow-warrior-intercept-072335077.html;_ylt=A0L...

"p.s. who plans to intercept a tanker?"
http://news.yahoo.com/video/greenpeace-sends-rainbow-warrior-intercept-072335077.html;_ylt=A0LEVyiz5WBT3ggAjCRXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEyMGI3ZmYzBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMQRjb2xvA2JmMQR2dGlkA1FJMDQ5XzE-?pt=Array2012-08-10.html2012-08-01.html2012-08-01.html

I did Love the Kumi video Sun Wu, and thanks for that. I'm sure you probably know, but Arizona just completed the largest solar farm in the world just yesterday. Clean energy from barren land, ...how cool is that?
http://gigaom.com/2014/04/29/the-worlds-largest-solar-panel-farm-is-completed-and-live-in-arizona

If I read correctly the article says that only the power for the data center is going to come from renewable energy, that i guess should be less than ...

If I read correctly the article says that only the power for the data center is going to come from renewable energy, that i guess should be less than 1 % of the total energy Apple is using (to produce hardware,...) what about the biggest part of its energy consumption?

A little more about the manufacture of solar panels. Plastic is one of the materials used, and yes, this can come from petroleum, ...or other sources...

A little more about the manufacture of solar panels. Plastic is one of the materials used, and yes, this can come from petroleum, ...or other sources. A 'drop in the bucket' though compared to the 25 years and hundreds of thousands of tons of using dirty coal to produce electricity, ...as is the majority of electricity production in the United States and China. Also the solar cells are 97% recyclable. So after the initial investment, almost no more materials are needed.
A little more about the production of palm oil.
Palm-oil biodiesel, once supported as a low-carbon alternative to gasoline, often contributes far more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere than it helps to avoid. When each hectare of carbon-rich tropical peatland is drained for oil palm production, an estimated 3,750-5,400 tons of carbon dioxide are released over 25 years, according to peatland ecologist Jack Rieley. By comparison, clearing a hectare of tropical forest releases 500-900 tons of carbon dioxide.
That's for one hectare. Now we need to multiply that with the 10 million hectares of pristine forest that has already been clear cut in Indonesia alone. Never will the rainforests and the thousands of now extinct species of flora and fauna return. The soil and the eclology destroyed forever.

I 've always thought that complimenting a child for the good they've done, usually gives them reason to go on and do more. Apple obviously is...

I 've always thought that complimenting a child for the good they've done, usually gives them reason to go on and do more. Apple obviously is a for profit company. And though the number 1% doesn't seem like a lot, as a whole, it's a tremendous amount of demand taken off the grid. At least in the video they are voicing and making promises to do better. I say let's go with that, ...give them encouragement and help them to hold to their promises, even though we cannot expect them to implement this overnight in all their manufacturing.

p.s. I Love apples, ...especially the Baldwin's, ...an apple that was discovered in 1740 as a chance seedling on the farm of Mr. John Ball of Wil...

p.s. I Love apples, ...especially the Baldwin's, ...an apple that was discovered in 1740 as a chance seedling on the farm of Mr. John Ball of Wilmington, Massachusetts. Another apple I grow is Spitzenberg, ...said to be a favorite of Thomas Jefferson. I have to say though, ...it isn't Granny's Green that's the apple of my eye, ...it's Greenpeace. Good luck and God speed securing the release of Captain Wilcox.

For me it's really ironical how can a company like Apple to mock at their customers by launching products which differ from one another by small s...

For me it's really ironical how can a company like Apple to mock at their customers by launching products which differ from one another by small specs and also be part of a nature's value by using renewable energy.